1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a spot welding apparatus that spot-welds a workpiece in the form of a plate assembly including stacked plates of different rigidities.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, a spot welding technique is widely used for joining stacked plates, such as steel plates. The spot welding technique involves using a pair of, welding electrodes to hold and apply a pressing force to the stacked plates, and applying a current between the welding electrodes for a predetermined time period.
Referring to FIG. 5A, when spot-welding a workpiece 100 in the form of a plate assembly including three stacked plates, i.e., a thin plate 101 having a lower rigidity, and a first thick plate 102 and a second thick plate 103 having a higher rigidity than the thin plate 101, a movable electrode 111 and a fixed electrode 112 hold the workplace 100 therebetween such that the thin plate 101 is in tight contact with the first thick plate 102, and that the first thick plate 102 is in tight contact with the second thick plate 103. Then, when a power source 113 applies a current to the workpiece 100 via the movable electrode 111 and the fixed electrode 112, the current density in an electric path between the movable electrode 111 and the fixed electrode 112 becomes substantially uniform. Thus, a good nugget is formed that extends from the thin plate 101 to the second thick plate 103, thereby achieving the required weld strength.
In actuality, however, when the workpiece 100 is held and pressed between the movable electrode 111 and the fixed electrode 112, the thin plate 101 having a lower rigidity and the first thick plate 102 bend upward, causing gaps to form between the thin plate 101 and the first thick plate 102 as well as between the first thick plate 102 and the second thick plate 103.
In this case, the contact area between the movable electrode 111 and the thin plate 101 is increased due to the bending of the thin plate 101, whereas the contact area of the joint section between the thin plate 101 and the first thick plate 102 and the contact area of the joint section between the first thick plate 102 and the second thick plate 103 are reduced due to the gaps. Therefore, the current density between the movable electrode 111 and the fixed electrode 112 at the second thick plate 103 side becomes higher than that at the thin plate 101 side. This results in a greater local calorific value between the first thick plate 102 and the second thick plate 103 than between the thin plate 101 and the first thick plate 102.
As a result, as shown in FIG. 5A, a nugget 105 is first formed at the joint section between the first thick plate 102 and the second thick plate 103. Then, as shown in FIG. 5B, the nugget 105 gradually grows so that the thin plate 101 and the first thick plate 102 are ultimately welded to each other. However, because the amount of weld penetration between the thin plate 101 and the first thick plate 102 is small, the weld strength is poor. Thus, the thin plate 101 may be separated from the first thick plate 102, and the welding quality varies. This problem becomes prominent particularly when the thickness of the first thick plate 102 and the thickness of the second thick plate 103 are increased since the increased thicknesses make it difficult for the nugget 105 to reach the joint section between the first thick plate 102 and the thin plate 101.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2003-251469 discloses an example of a spot welding method as a countermeasure against this problem. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 6, when spot-welding the workpiece 100 formed of three stacked plates, i.e., the thin plate 101, the first thick plate 102, and the second thick plate 103, a pressing force FU of a movable electrode 125 at the thin plate 101 side is set to be lower than a pressing force FL of a fixed electrode 124 at the second thick plate 103 side. Thus, the contact resistance between the thin plate 101 and the first thick plate 102 is increased, whereas the contact resistance between the first thick plate 102 and the second thick plate 103 is reduced. Accordingly, when a current is applied between the movable electrode 125 and the fixed electrode 124, the calorific value at the joint section between the thin plate 101 and the first thick plate 102 is increased, thereby increasing the weld strength between the thin plate 101 and the first thick plate 102.
FIG. 7 illustrates the configuration of a spot welding apparatus used for implementing this method. Specifically, a spot welding apparatus 120 is attached to a wrist 116 of a welding robot 115. The welding robot 115 moves the spot welding apparatus 120 to each spot position of the workpiece 100 supported by a clamper 118 and spot-welds the workpiece 100.
The spot welding apparatus 120 includes a base 122 that is vertically movably supported by a linear guide 121. The linear guide 121 is fixed to a support bracket 117 attached to the wrist 116. A fixed arm 123 extending downward is provided on the base 122. The fixed electrode 124 is provided at a distal end of the fixed arm 123.
A pressing force actuator 126 is attached to an upper end of the base 122 and is configured to move a rod 127 vertically. The movable electrode 125 is attached to a lower end of the rod 127 so as to face the fixed electrode 124. A servomotor 128 is attached to an upper end of the support bracket 117. The servomotor 128 is configured to move the base 122 vertically by means of a ball screw mechanism.
In accordance with teaching data stored in advance in a controller (not shown), the controller first causes the servomotor 128 to move the base 122 upward so as to bring the fixed electrode 124 into contact with a lower surface of the workpiece 100, and causes the pressing force actuator 126 to move the movable electrode 125 downward so as to bring the movable electrode 125 into contact with an upper surface of the workpiece 100. In this case, the pressing force of the pressing force actuator 126 is uniformly applied to the movable electrode 125 and the fixed electrode 124 via the base 122 and the fixed arm 123.
Subsequently, the base 122 is moved upward by the servomotor 128. When the base 122 is moved upward, the pressing force FL of the fixed electrode 124 increases by an amount corresponding to the distance of the upward movement of the base 122, whereby the pressing force FU of the movable electrode 125 becomes lower than the pressing force FL of the fixed electrode 124 (FU<FL).
As a result, when a current is applied between the movable electrode 125 and the fixed electrode 124, the current density at the joint section between the thin plate 101 and the first thick plate 102 becomes high, causing the calorific value to become relatively higher than the calorific value at the joint section between the first thick plate 102 and the second thick plate 103. Consequently, a good uniform nugget is formed that extends from the thin plate 101 to the second thick plate 103, thereby ensuring a high weld strength.
According to the above Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2003-251469, the fixed electrode 124 is brought into contact with the second thick plate 103 of the workpiece 100 clamped by the clamper 118, and the movable electrode 125 is brought into contact with the thin plate 101. Further, the pressing force FU of the movable electrode 125 is set to be lower than the pressing force FL of the fixed electrode 124 by moving the base 122 upward. Then, the current density between the thin plate 101 and the first thick plate 102 becomes relatively higher. Thus, a sufficient calorific value can be obtained at the joint section between the thin plate 101 and the first thick plate 102, thereby achieving an increased amount of weld penetration and increased weld strength.
However, when setting the pressing force FU of the movable electrode 125 to be lower than the pressing force FL of the fixed electrode 124 by moving the base 122 while the workpiece 100 is clamped by the clamper 118 and is held and pressed between the fixed electrode 124 and the movable electrode 125, a large load is placed on the clamper 118 clamping the workpiece 100. On the other hand, if the clamped position of the workpiece 100 clamped by the clamper 118 and the welding position of the workpiece 100 are markedly distant from each other, the workpiece 100 deforms and bends. This causes the pressing force FL of the fixed electrode 124 and the pressing force FU of the movable electrode 125 to vary, making it difficult to obtain stable contact resistance between the thin plate 101 and the first thick plate 102 and stable contact resistance between the first thick plate 102 and the second thick plate 103. This may result in variations in the current density at the joint sections, leading to reduced spot welding quality.
In order to solve such problems, the applicant of the present patent application has proposed, in Japanese Patent Application No. 2010-200643, a spot welding apparatus schematically shown in FIG. 8. This spot welding apparatus holds and presses a weld section of a workpiece 100, and causes a control pressing force applying actuator (not shown) to press a control pressing force applying unit 133 against a thin plate 101 of the workpiece 100 and thereby apply a control pressing force Fα to the workpiece 100 such that a pressing force FL of a fixed electrode 132 applied to a thin plate 101 side is controlled to be lower than a pressing force FU of a movable electrode 131 applied to a second thick plate 103 side (FL<FU). Then, the spot welding apparatus applies a current between the movable electrode 131 and the fixed electrode 132 for a predetermined time period and thereby performs welding.
The control pressing force applying actuator is disposed in the vicinity of the movable electrode 131. Therefore, the dimension of this spot welding apparatus in a width direction thereof is greater than that of an ordinary spot welding apparatus, and the size of the spot welding apparatus is increased. Moreover, the surrounding space of the movable electrode 131 and the fixed electrode 132, i.e., the operating space, is limited, which might affect welding operations of a welding robot.